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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Jessica Sansome

ITV Good Morning Britain viewers make same Richard Madeley complaint as he replaces Ed Balls in return to show

Good Morning Britain viewers were sharing the same complaint as Richard Madeley returned to screens. The presenter was back at the helm of the ITV news programme after a couple of weeks away with Ed Balls taking his place alongside Susanna Reid.

But the former This Morning host was back in the main seat on Monday (November 14) and Richard wasted no time in getting stuck into the news headlines and having his say on some of the topics getting people talking, including Matt Hancock's appearance on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here.

And one of the other stories Richard commented on was that of Dolly Parton, who was awarded a $100m (£84.8m) prize by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The country icon and philanthropist was given the Bezos Courage & Civility Award which recognises leaders who "pursue solutions with courage and civility".

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Upon discussing the major monetary award on GMB, Richard recalled an interesting interview moment he shared with Dolly. Telling Susanna, he said "I looked at her, and this is live, and I said 'God, you've got really tiny feet, haven't you?' and she looked at me and went [cups his chest] 'nothing grows in the shade, honey.'" He then added of the Jolene hitmaker: "She's a living doll."

But it appears it's not the first time he said it. He actually recalled the tale earlier this month during an appearance on BBC's Have I Got News For You and GMB viewers hadn't forgotten about it.

@JohnDix05864924 tweeted: "#GMB why does Madeley keep repeating stories 'I may have told this story about Dolly Parton before' yes we have and it’s still not funny." @gz4216 pleaded: "Madeley please STOP telling that Dolly Parton anecdote! You tell it at EVERY opportunity!"

@mntrg echoed: "#GMB @richardm56 can you please stop telling that story every time Dolly Parton is mentioned." @DannyDenay added: "Richard Madeley: I've told this story many times before I mean I've heard it 3 times in the last WEEK! #GMB."

Richard also fumed about Matt Hancock during his return to the show (ITV)

Elsewhere in the programme, Richard fumed at I'm A Celeb's Matt Hancock as he discussed the Tory MP's recent admission in the jungle. During a recent episode, the 44-year-old openly confessed that politicians, including himself, deliberately swerve questions in interviews and press conferences and call it "pivoting".

Bringing up the confession on GMB, Richard and Susanna recalled the times Matt "pivoted" during their interviews. Richard then called out the former health secretary as he disagreed with the idea of the strategy being "admirable". He said: "Admirable... what he's saying is this is how we dodge your questions.

"And it's not just our questions, because we ask the questions on behalf of you. So they are actually dodging your questions. What their prime and tested strategy is, is they give you an answer to a question you haven't asked." Susanna went on: "He even admitted that! So we have gone back through our Matt Hancock interviews and found out where he may have performed the pivot."

After the clips aired, Richard fumed: "Pivot, pivot, pivot, pivot," before he recalled the time he nded an interview with former government minister Gavin Williamson after he didn't answer the questions he was putting to him. "As you say Richard, the point of it is these questions are asked by us on behalf of the voters, and if he is out and out saying that's a deliberate strategy, that he claims that it is admirable..." Susanna commented.

To which Richard added: "They also know these are live interviews and time is constrained, so they're filling time and hoping to get to the end of the time that we've got."

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